Legacy
by Deathcomes4u
Summary: G1- At the beginning of the war, Starscream decides he wants to leave a lasting impression on the world, and what better way than to shape another mech's very life. A sparkling, the collateral from their latest city raid, is his new insurance policy.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't know if any of my internet friends/watchers/readers remember me mentioning this story quite a few months back, but i did forget about it... then for no particualr reason i remembered it tonight, and remembered i need only do a tiny bit more to this first chapter to make it ready to post._

_It's not a long chapter, and it will likely not be a long story. It's conceptual, an exploration into a 'what if' that started with the idea of Starscream raising a sparkling as his own, and the conversations he would have with said sparkling, and the reasons for doing it, and then somewhere along the way, Prowl became that sparkling. The idea was a eureka moment and everything sort of fell into place in my head from there._

_So this is both fluff and probably other less fluffy things that have fandom terms that i'm not familiar with. All i know is it's going to be updated less than regularly, but if you bear with me, it will have much merit in the form of character depth, looots of character depth mixed with humour (because let's face it, how is the Decepticons raising a sparkling not going to lead to hilarity? ) but no pronz if that's what you're looking for. Maybe some awkwardness when Prowl has to learn about those things, but again, funny rather than smutty. And yes he'll be growing up in the story, the plot has a beginning to end sequence in my head, which is rare for my stories, but a good thing none-the-less.  
_

_So yea, first chapter, not very long but hope you enjoy :3 Let me know what you think, of course your alert adds will tell me of you want more X3 But this is Sparkling!Prowl, how could you NOT? XD  
_

_~Death out.  
_

* * *

The Decepticon raiding party stepped through the rubble of the Praxus towers.

They had left nothing. Not a crystal unshuttered. Not a spark unextinguished.

At least they'd thought so.

"Starscream… what is that?" The cold, harsh words nearly made the red and white seeker flinch, but he caught himself. He always caught himself.

"My Liege?" he screeched back bluntly. What on earth was he being blamed for _now?_ Yet another incompetence of the Decepticon warlord no doubt.

"That _sound_ Starscream. Turn your Audio receptors back up."

Starscream did so with a frown. He usually turned them down when performing aerial raids, to stop himself from being distracted by both the explosion shockwaves and one of his wing mates' regular sonic booms.

Once he had returned the reception levels to normal, he heard it. A shuffling. A click. Something. Something not dead.

This time Starscream did flinch. He usually prided himself on his air raids. _Nothing_ was supposed to survive him. _Nothing._ Apparently, whatever mech was foolish enough to survive the complete and utter devastation didn't realise it would have been easier to just die in an explosion or be crushed.

Starscream also prided himself on causing pain. A lot of it.

"Find it and terminate it Starscream, I've had enough of your incompetence for one cycle." Megatron drawled, crossing his arms over his chassis and glaring coldly at his SIC.

Starscream's lip-plate curled in response, and he turned, tearing at the rubble, turning his head this way and that to follow the sound.

When he got to a large, warped metal panel, he readied a null ray cannon and kicked over the remains of the tower wall.

For a moment, they just stared at each other. Blank surprise on both their faceplates.

Then, slowly, Starscream lowered the null ray, still staring blankly, but now in an uncharacteristically unthreatening posture.

The other clicked in response. Golden optics gazing up steadily, filled with neither fear, nor hope, nor curiosity. It looked almost… _expectant._

"Starscream?" came an almost exasperated warning grumble from his leader.

Starscreams' other wing mates had by now also come over to his side, sensing something off with their commander's reaction.

When they reached his side, they gave the focus of the lead seeker's attention the same, blank looks of surprise. Megatron stomped his way over irately.

"…A Sparkling? A _sparkling_ survived the terrible prowess of the mighty Starscream? Why does it not surprise me…" Megatron's voice was laced with cold satisfaction, as if he had just been waiting for a reason to criticise his air commander all joor.

Starscream broke his dazed staring match with the small creature to shoot a glare at his leader.

The Tri-jet stalked forward over the debris and critically examined the surroundings.

The Sparkling watched him with that same, blank, expectant look, letting out another singular click.

The Red and White seeker's optics narrowed.

"He was in a containment unit. Protected when the tower collapsed. He got out." Starscream explained flatly as he pointed to a damaged pod-like structure that had been resting under the large collapsed wall. It seemed the Sparkling had been in recharge when the attack had started.

Had he known, when he woke up, that his creator units were both dead? Had he felt them ascend to the matrix? Was his sparkling bond with them too frail for such a thing to be felt and understood by him?

Starscream knew the Sparkling continued to stare at him. It's small, well built frame (of course well built, these were the Praxus towers) had minimal armour that was already painted black and white. It's chest was well designed and protected, and it sported two sensory panels like wings from it's back, but it certainly wasn't a flying build. The only colour on him other than his golden neutral optics were the two small, spiky red protrusions on the front of the tiny helm. A helm Starscream could crush in one hand. Why wasn't it's staring bothering him more? He generally had no patience for Sparklings…

"Dispose of it, Starscream." Megatron said, sounding now both bored and slightly irritated.

Starscream frowned, locking eyes with the small life form again.

Something very strange unfolded in his processor. A possibility. Not an insane one, not to him at the moment… if he ever thought before that he might consider it, he may have thought he'd received one too many hits to the processor from Megatron, but right now, gazing down on the creature…

"Lord Megatron… I think we should keep it."

Dead, flat, suffocating silence met his plainly made statement.

His wing mates stared, gawking openly. Megatron seemed too surprised to yell at or reign abuse down on him.

He decided the lack of response was a cue to explain himself further.

"I think it would make an interesting experiment. A mech _raised_ in the Decepticon ways. It is already of an acceptable standard of make. I doubt there would ever be a more loyal member of your army than one trained and working within it from such a young age."

The more he spoke, the more narrow Megatron's optics became. However, Starscream recognised the intrigued glow in the gun-former's gaze. It meant he was considering the implications of the proposal. It meant he was not going to dismiss it outright.

Thundercracker and Skywarp stood tense to their commander's right, ventilations shallow. Either their leader would, miraculously, grant Starscream his deranged wish to keep the Sparkling… or he would tear him to pieces for suggesting something so absurd and wasting their time.

Starscream did not break Megatrons gaze. His thoughts were focused on the ramifications of what he was suggesting. Maybe he had gone mad… but if nothing else, he was testing the waters… they may end up killing this sparkling, but if the idea was seeded in his leaders CPU…

He did not let any emotion seep through to his faceplate though…

_But it__'__s THIS one__…__ there is no point taking any old half-rate creation. This one survived. It is of respectable alloy_. _I will not terminate it. If it is to be, then it HAS to be this one._

Starscream refused to look at the Sparkling, which seemed to realise on some level that it's future was in question and it wisely did not move or make a sound.

After Starscream held the red and silver mech's gaze for at least 3 kliks, it seemed Megatron finally came to a decision.

"Very well, Starscream. We will raise this new Decepticon. You will oversee this project of yours, but I shall monitor it closely. Knowing your track record, I won't have you training up another insubordinate like yourself… get the rest of your trine to gather the necessary supplies to support it. I will personally revise your duties roster once you ascertain what needs the Sparkling has that you must fulfil. But consider this an additional workload for the most part." Megatron spoke succinctly. Starscream gave a single nod, faceplate impassive. He heard Thundercracker and Skywarp vent sighs of relief.

Megatron turned with one last glare and took to the air to lead the rest of their raiding party back to their headquarters.

Starscream faced his wing-mates and instructed each in the supplies he would need before the two took off with bemused expressions to gather them.

Finally, Starscream turned back to the Sparkling, which chirruped.

"Don't get too excited. I'm not going to be like your creators." Starscream muttered as he reached down and scooped the small frame into his arms.

The sparkling squirmed in his hold until it was able to look up at him.

"What are you so fascinated by?" Starscream asked more to himself than to it. It clicked twice, softly, and buried itself a little deeper into his chest plate, seeking the thrum of his spark through the red metal.

When Starscream took off, the Sparkling's calm demeanour changed.

It let out a small but piercing high pitched whistle.

Starscream winced slightly and shifted it so it couldn't see the ground. It continued to shake violently in his arms.

"Hush, I'm not going to drop you. Just don't squirm so much." Starscream mumbled to the sparkling to distract it, and himself from the task he had just set himself.

"I'm going to let you in on something, youngling. You are no experiment… I had to tell Megatron that, it was the only way he'd ever consider allowing me to keep and raise a Sparkling… it's the only way I can do it without any other Decepticons using it-… using you, as some sort of weakness against me. Make no mistake, I am not weak."

The Sparkling's shaking had quieted a little as he spoke. It made a small, uncertain noise somewhere between a buzz and a chirrup.

Starscream continued to speak his reasoning aloud to it, though he was aware it likely understood little to nothing.

"I have wondered before… I am in a precarious position. I am strong, yes. Strong enough to challenge and question the Decepticon leadership every day. I must, it is my duty, if I do not, where would we be? Megatron would allow himself to relax and wallow in his own self brilliance! He cannot see it… he takes out his ire on me, but I still remain his second in command. However… I am no fool. I know that if I perish, and that risk IS high, I will be remembered only as a traitor… an insubordinate, Megatron would see to it. He would eradicate all trace of me and my name would be left to the dust of space. But that is where you come in…"

Starscream glanced down at the bundle still pressed securely against his chest plate, it's tiny face and yellow optics nuzzled against the golden glass of his cockpit. It let out a tired whirring hum.

"I sort of decided… perhaps less than a vorn ago… that I needed to leave my mark. My _true_ mark. Not just some idea, some famous name, but a living record of my essence. I had the urge to leave an impression in something living… what better way to truly distil myself than to shape the very existence of another, a mech who should live beyond me and remember all I taught them. Yes… you, youngling… are going to be my legacy."

Even as he spoke the soft revelation, the Sparkling's optics dimmed, and within a breem it was in recharge in the sky blue arms, vents sighing into the wind beneath it's new caretaker.

Starscream glanced down at the now calm bundle of black and white as it slipped into stasis. He wondered briefly how long it had been since it had refuelled. A quick scan told him it would be alright for at least another two cycles or so.

As Starscream neared the base in Kaon, he pinged the Decepticon communications officer. Soundwave responded immediately with an enquiry acceptance.

**Soundwave, I need to speak to you, I require your specialist knowledge. Meet me in my laboratory, I am on approach at 80 Kliks, I will arrive in approximately a breem.**

**Affirmative. **Was Soundwaves only cryptic reply. Starscream frowned in annoyance. With Soundwave, a single word could have a world of meaning, but he was rarely emotional and it was always up to anybody else to decipher his replies as best they could. He daren't give Megatron such slag of course, the blue and white communications specialist was generally upfront with their leader (mostly for his own safety, fragging off Megatron was a pastime few others than Starscream dared and survived), but even then he'd sometimes dodge one of Megatron's questions with a vague one word answer if he wasn't entirely sure of his information. It seemed to be in his core programming to confuse others on purpose.

It did make him good at his job though. Very few specialists on the Autobot side could crack Soundwave's codes or detect his sneaky methods of information gathering. Misinformation and confusion tactics worked very well to evade the brunt of the Autobot army.

When Starscream touched down outside the large bay door of his lab, he could see the glowing red visor in the shadows, waiting for him. Little else of the blue and white frame was visible beyond the light streaming from large illuminators on the building's outside. Soundwave hadn't bothered to turn on the lights in the lab. Starscream did not doubt the mech was not keen to make their meeting publicly known.

As Starscream strolled into the open bay area, the lights automatically switched on by his remote command, and Soundwave's visor glowed in a way that showed mild surprise as he noticed the thing in the air commander's arms.

"I am in need of your advice Soundwave. I am starting a new project. I will be raising this neutral sparkling as my own under Decepticon teachings. I require your knowledge in this field to assist me in the best means to meet the sparkling's requirements." Starscream said simply, flatly, no trace of his usual arrogance. Something the ever perceptive sound oriented mech picked up on instantly. He gave Starscream a calm, scrutinising look, then nodded slowly and reached out his arms.

Starscream gently handed him the small black and white frame, and Soundwave held it with obvious practiced care.

Starscream watched idly with his arms calmly crossed as Soundwave ran a few scans over the still recharging sparkling.

The Blue and white nodded again… his gesture as open to interpretation as his one line answers, and walked to the nearest clear bench top where he lay the curled up metal form down. Soundwave deployed a small uplink cable from his wrist and fastened it gently into a data input port in the base of the sparkling's tiny neck-column.

"Updating firewalls and virus protection programmes." He explained in monotone before Starscream could open his mouth plate to ask what fragging liberties exactly was he taking with _his _sparkling.

Starscream was glad the other had prevented his outburst. He stood stiff, arms still crossed over the golden cockpit, but tensely now. He had not had _his_ sparkling for even a cycle yet and already his protective genitor programming was asserting itself. That was dangerous. He would have to keep a close check on that.

When Soundwave was done, he carefully disconnected and picked up the sparkling, this time doing a quick visual check on it's protoform. His gaze seemed as much curious as scrutinising.

Apparently satisfied that the small metal being was in good working order, he returned to Starscream to hand it's still recharging form back to him.

"Suggestion…" Soundwave prompted almost tentatively. The Air commander fixed his eyes unfalteringly on the red visor, expression blank, and nodded once.

"…do not force Decepticon ways on the youngling. Give it the knowledge to choose our way freely." the communications expert said quietly, voice kept controlled and flat, but Starscream could sense the blue and white's unease at his own words.

Starscream's faceplates relaxed slightly, but he did not leave Soundwave's gaze even as the other seemed to gain more confidence in his tentatively worded suggestion.

"Is that what you did with yours?" Starscream asked quietly, glancing down at the sparkling as it shifted very slightly in it's stasis while the new firewall downloads integrated into it's systems.

"They are willing to serve, not forced." Soundwave replied simply.

Starscream nodded. "That method makes more sense. Loyalty comes from belief in the cause. I will allow him to realise where his loyalties lie on his own."

Soundwave gave him another single nod… wether it was in approval or merely just an acknowledgement, it signalled something new between the two officers, an unspoken change in their usually cold and removed relationship.

"I am available for further enquiries concerning the sparkling when necessary." Soundwave said calmly as he left.

Starscream nodded in a manner not unlike the communications expert. It was as close to a thankyou as a Decepticon would ever give. But it was appreciated.

About a Breem after Soundwave had left, Starscream's wing mates returned to base, bringing equipment and energon to his lab.

Thundercracker deposited a small crib-berth, dusty and slightly charred (obviously from a previously raided youth centre), and then un-subspaced some other sparkling care equipment, like feeding tubes and a small waste-fuel management unit. He had also, much to Starscream's satisfaction, procured half an upgrade frame which the scientist-come-air commander could use to analyse and replicate when the youngling was old enough to require it's next frame.

Skywarp had been unable to find any low-grade energon and had simply stolen a large supply from a nearby neutral colony.

Starscream went about re-processing the energon into a weaker grade. Once he had set his refining system up and cleaned the other equipment Thundercracker had brought, he went to check on the sparkling, which he had left recharging on the bench Soundwave had lain him on to do his programming updates earlier.

He shuttered his optics a few times in mild confusion.

The Sparkling was gone.

Grimacing to cover up the mild stab of fear he felt, he did a quick scanner sweep of the large room.

He honed in on the small, weak energy signature. It was… behind him?

Starscream turned around to find a pair of small yellow optics fixed on his as the sparkling stood crouched, mid-way towards him.

It had been sneaking up on him… but why?

Grimace turning to blank curiosity, Starscream walked forwards and went to pick up the Sparkling…. Which promptly bolted, letting out a single loud click.

Starscream watched in mild fascination as it dove under a workbench and proceeded to crawl around the crates underneath… heading for Thundercracker.

Starscream could not suppress the small smirk that crept onto his faceplate.

:You have a sparkling creeping up on you: Starscream sent to the blue seeker through their silent trine bond.

Thundercracker, who was facing sideways to his commander, looked over at him quizzically, before turning to catch out the youngling. But the small black and white had seen him move and hidden behind a crate. Starscream could see him, but Thundercracker could not.

Thundercracker frowned over at his commander, who's smirk merely grew.

:Are you just messing with me?: the Blue tri-jet sent back irritably.

But before Starscream answered, the Sparkling had crept close enough to pounce from under the bench and cling to the tall mech's leg, clicking and whistling in what could only be described as an attempt at being fearsome.

Thundercracker jumped slightly, looking down in alarm at the black and white little creature that had attached itself to his leg. Starscream snickered, but Skywarp outright cackled as his now disgruntled blue wingmate attempted to pry the youngling from the side of his heel turbine, without much luck.

Starscream strode over and the sparkling let the other seeker go the moment the sky blue servos wrapped around his middle.

"I think we have found a suitable designation." Starscream said coolly as he took the sparkling over to the computer console. He sat at his usual chair and settled the sparkling in his lap while it clicked curiously.

He didn't say anything else as he began to construct a data entry program to document his 'experiment'. In truth it was merely a gesture to keep Megatron happy. He would request progress reports on Starscream's 'project', and to evade suspicion Starscream would have to keep a running log, but really it would only ever serve the seeker as a flippant interest in later vorns. He didn't really care about the technical ins and outs of the Sparkling's progress. This was not a formal affair to him, but he had to maintain a façade to some degree.

After a breem or so, the Sparkling began squirming in his lap and let out a small complaintative sound.

Starscream drew his focus from the console for a moment to do a quick scan and found the Sparkling's energy was nearing depletion. He scooped the black and white protoform up and went to the table where he had set up his energon refining apparatus. Enough had now been refined to a lower grade to refuel the Sparkling, so the white and red seeker collected it into a square beaker and sought one of the recently procured and cleaned feeding tubes.

Starscream's wing mates had been standing comfortably at one of the benches, idly chatting, but they both watched their commander as he deftly went about meeting the new charge's needs. Their gazes were nothing short of curious.

Apparently not noticing their stares, Starscream took the Sparkling and low grade back over to the computer and sat down again, settling the Sparkling to lean against his midriff and guiding the feeding tube to it's mouth. He made sure the sparkling was holding the small square beaker on it's own and had started in-taking before he went back to data filing.

Skywarp wandered over to read what Starscream had already input into the log, displayed on one of the several large flat screens.

"Prowl huh? Not bad. Certainly fitting, don't you think TC?"

Thundercracker, who had strolled forward to stand with his black and purple wingmate, growled slightly and gave Skywarp a small swat to the back of the helm.

"I don't see why it's so fitting. 'Brat' would be just as suitable, how do you figure 'Prowl' from ONE game of peek-a-pounce?" Thundercracker grumbled as he came up behind Starscream and glowered over the air commander's shoulder at the creature, which looked up at him with wide golden optics, small wing-like appendages twitching as it continued to suck fuel through it's feeding tube.

"It was clearly a game he is well used to. No sparkling is that accomplished without practice. I doubt he had many playmates in the Praxus towers, sneaking up on adults was likely one of his only pass-times." Starscream supplied distractedly as he continued his information gathering.

"Whatcha doin'?" Skywarp asked over his other shoulder, giving the sparkling a cheeky wink as it turned its attention from the blue seeker to him, wings twitching a little more enthusiastically at the purple flier's attentions.

"Structuring the necessary information downloads. He will need his first basic lingual packets soon. His developmental stage seems to have stretched to co-ordination and basic recognition and reasoning protocols, but not any large amount of vocabulary files, if any. Even for a sparkling with only simple emotive sound signals as his primary communication mode, he is unusually quiet."

The white and red mech explained, scarlet optics not leaving the screen,

"So what is this Starscream?" Thundercracker asked softly, slightly curious but also wary, as the Sparkling was snatched up by Skywarp when it finished it's cube of low-grade.

The air commander spared him a brief, blank glance.

Bravely, Thundercracker pressed on, looking at Skywarp as he examined the black and white creature that twittered very softly at the attention.

"Is this really just an experiment to you?"

"No." Starscream answered quietly, but did not expound.

Skywarp's mouth cocked into a crooked grin as the Sparkling squirmed slightly and he brought it a little closer to his faceplate.

"…well, you've never cared about off lining sparklings before, so I know it's not some sudden nurturing urge… is this some new means of recruiting supporters? Do you plan to use him against Megatron as a personal soldier?"

Starscream snorted inelegantly through his vents and this time took his crimson gaze off the screen to fix it coolly on his underling, head tilted in a condescending manner.

"I do not need to spend vorns just to acquire a loyal soldier to use against Megatron. Misinformed soldiers work just as well and die the same way, and they take much less time and effort. I have my reasons Thundercracker, but they do not concern you, and they certainly don't concern Megatron."

"I don't know S, that seems to narrow it down to you having unnatural genitor urges… and like TC said, that's not you, so why now, and why this one?" Skywarp said curiously as the sparkling leaned forward and bumped it's head lightly against the purple seeker's helm, putting it's small servos either side of the flier's faceplate, mapping his vents with it's tiny digits in an exploratory manner.

Starscream's wings twitched in a slightly irritated manner as he sent his other wingmate a calculating glance, but there was rarely ever any deeper meaning or malice behind Skywarp's statements when directed to his trine-mates, so he answered curtly as he focused once more on the screen.

"It is not _entirely _an experiment, but it remains so to a certain degree. He will be raised as I see fit, and while he will be taught Decepticon values and ways, he will not be forced into Megatron's ranks. In fact, I'd prefer to keep his contact with Megatron to a minimal. It's likely that moron will put stupid ideas in his processor and dumb down his intelligence if anything."

"I hope you don't intend to keep voicing thoughts like those aloud, or we'll be left with this thing when Megatron offlines you for insubordination." Thundercracker muttered, half-scorning, half-exasperated as he walked over to Skywarp and stood with his servos on his hips to make his own examination of the sparkling.

Skywarp held it out and turned it around as it gave Thundercracker a defiant click, yellow optics intent on the blue seeker's faceplate. The tiny servos reached out and, despite himself, Thundercracker softened his surly grimace and brought his faceplate down so the Sparkling could reach it.

The creature gave a few curious clicks as it slowly mapped his faceplate the same way it had done to Skywarp.

Thundercracker certainly did not expect the split nanoklik motion of the sparkling throwing back it's arms and smacking it's servos down on both his cheek-arches repeatedly.

He drew back with a startled yelp, a hand going to his face-plate. It hadn't really hurt, but the sting of insult was intensified with Skywarp's cackling laughter as he nearly doubled over with the happily chirruping Sparkling clutched to his chest-plate.

"Oh yea, you picked a good one Screamer! I'm all for keeping him away from Megatron for now, especially if he likes him as much as he likes TC." Skywarp proclaimed with mirth as he set the Sparkling on his shoulder. It clung to one of his tall shoulder vents, looking for all the world haughtily pleased with himself for bettering the big blue seeker.

Thundercracker growled and glared at the Sparkling.

He'd always hated younglings. This one was only re-affirming his reasons why.

Starscream smirked at the monitor, even though he paid his wing mates and sparkling's antics no attention. He could feel their varying feelings faintly through the trine bond and didn't really need a visual.

He did not doubt Megatron would be highly displeased if Prowl did to him what he had done to Thundercracker. But Starscream certainly did not plan on allowing the chance for something like that to happen. No, he would shelter the Sparkling from as much of the rest of the Decepticon ranks as he could, for as long as he could. His wing-mates influence was inconsequential. Though probably useful. Whenever he had to leave Prowl in the care of another, he would prefer one of his trine, as he could always be aware of the Sparkling's status using their bond.

Starscream didn't have to worry about leaving him with anyone though… because when Megatron decided he wanted a status report, he arrived in person to see first hand how the 'experiment' was starting off.

Starscream had just finished taking Prowl's measurements and weight, when his leader pinged.

The air commander barely had a chance to acknowledge before Megatron punched the door code and entered. It wasn't as if Starscream could have denied him anyway.

"So, Starscream, I see you've made the necessary adjustments to support your little 'endeavour'." the silver gun-former sneered as he glanced around at the new (pilfered) sparkling care paraphernalia.

The light coloured jet spun on his heel at the console to face Megatron, then his scarlet optics darted to the bench where he had set Prowl down… only to see the sparkling had pulled another disappearing act. Typical.

He supposed he could count on the thing to pounce on Megatron and get itself blown up before it was even an orn under his care.

"Where is it?" Megatron asked bluntly, crimson optics scanning the room again lazily, not seeing any sign of the experiment in question.

Starscream cycled in exasperation to cover his nervousness. He had been hoping to physically keep it from Megatron as much as possible, which was very hard when the sparkling kept disappearing at inopportune moments.

"I'm afraid he's rather good at sneaking off. Try not to shoot at something small and fast moving if it tries to p-"

But Starscream's terse warning was cut off by a high pitched whistle as Prowl jumped from behind the nearest boxes to the leader and attached himself to the black and red leg armour, winglets flapping madly.

Megatron looked down, somewhat astonished, and didn't notice Starscream tense as he reached down a massive servo and plucked the sparkling off his leg by it's scruff bar as it twittered and clicked indignantly.

Starscream bit back the urge to snap at Megatron to be careful and watched intently as the silver mech turned the small creature around in his grasp.

"A sneak-attack hmm? I see you're already teaching it your ways, Starscream. A habit I'm not sure I _fully_ encourage."

Prowl clicked quietly in quick succession, arms and legs balled up to his chassis as he was slowly rotated in the air. He did not seem to like the inspection, and drooped his winglets to warn the large mech that if it continued much longer he'd start to vocalise his displeasure.

"I have taught him nothing as of yet. He displayed that behaviour quite on his own, much to Thundercracker's chagrin."

Starscream allowed himself a snicker as his blue wing-mate, standing to attention in the corner with Skywarp, scowled deeply and let his commander know of his irritation through the trine bond.

But Starscream's focus was quickly back on Megatron, who walked up to him and the console, depositing the sparkling in an almost bored manner on the bench beside his SIC.

Starscream lazily reached out a servo to hook two digits around Prowl's scruff-bar so he wouldn't sneak off again. His instinct was to snatch it into his arms and hold it close to his chassis to better protect it, but he couldn't allow Megatron to know how much he valued the small creature.

But it seemed the black and white sparkling was keen to stick close to his carer after being handled by the enormous silver monster that was now reviewing Starscream's new experiment data-log.

Another sneer curled Megatron's lip-plates.

"At least you are competent with designation assignment." He commented, skimming over the rest of the technical information before turning to appraise the sparkling and then his air commander with cool, calculating distain.

"Soundwave has changed you and your trine's shift rosters. The changes will apply in the next joor. Until then, you may continue settling in our newest recruit."

Megatron turned with a snide leer, still completely ignoring the other two seekers standing in the corner, and left.

All four of the room's occupants let out a collective aspiration at the dispersing of tension with their leader's departure. None of them had been aware that they had stopped ventilating. Even Prowl seemed to have been on edge in Megatron's presence.

Starscream didn't get to relax for long though. He had just turned to check the state of his sparkling's waste tanks when the door was pinged again.

Irritatingly, the mech did not wait for an acknowledgement and merely strode through the door that hadn't yet closed behind Megatron.

"Our leader tells me you have embarked on a new _project _Starscream."

Starscream's lip curled and he did not hide his distaste at the sound of the cold, disdainful drawl.

"_Has _he now, Shockwave. And it is your business because?" the air commander replied in clipped, shrewd tones.

He turned only his head to stare with crimson optics at the unrelenting, singular yellow lens. Shockwave did not have any features on his cranial unit pertaining to a facial structure. Practical was his nature, and merely practical was his build. His processor followed similar lines, with some sadism and generally hateful traits thrown in.

If Starscream was keen to keep Prowl away from Megatron, he was positively _desperate _to keep him out of Shockwave's company.

Despite the purple mech's lack of communicative features, his slight surprise was evident in body language as he glanced between the air commander and the sparkling he still had hooked by it's scruff-bar. The amber optic's brightness pulsed slightly as Shockwave processed what he was seeing.

"This endeavour of yours confuses more than intrigues me." He finally said in an almost bored way.

"Oh dear, the mighty Shockwave is confused, whatever shall the rest of the scientific community do?" Starscream drawled back airily, picking the clicking Prowl up and moving him to a clear bench where he could drain the sparkling's nearly full waste tanks while shielding him from the other scientist's calculating gaze.

When Shockwave replied, he made no acknowledgement of Starscream's scathing retort.

"You claim that you are going to attempt to raise a sparkling in the Decepticon ways, do you not?"

"I can see why such a simple concept would confuse you." Starscream smirked, though his back was to the purple mech.

Starscream wouldn't risk turning his back on the insufferable violet gun-former if his trine-mates weren't in the room with him.

"It is not so much the concept as the motivations. You are not known for your loyalty to Megatron, nor your devotion to long-term and labour intensive projects. I'm intrigued to know what has brought about this sudden change in you"

Starscream, to his credit, did not even twitch his wings as a spasm of annoyance passed through him at Shockwave's shrewd and undisguised suspicion.

"You may think you know me, Shockwave, but therein lies your fault as a scientist. You deign to know the outcome of an experiment before you perform it, just as you presume to know all there is to know about your fellows. Not everything and everyone fits into your perfectly known and organised world." Starscream's voice was laced with haughty disdain.

Prowl clicked indignantly as the red and white seeker lay him on his front and went about connecting the waste-processing unit. It was not a comfortable exercise for the sparkling, and Prowl was familiar with it, buzzing and kicking to show his discontent.

Barely even giving the motion a thought, Starscream stroked the sensory panels that fluttered in aggravation on the small creature's back, and immediately Prowl settled, only bothering to let out a few loud clicks of irritation as the small pump began emptying his waste tanks.

The air commander was aware of the impassionate scientist still staring at his back-plates… he could almost hear the cold, calculating processor whirring away in contemplation.

He merely took Shockwave's silence as a cue to drive his point home further. Turning to lean nonchalantly against the bench where he'd set down the sparkling, he crossed his servos over his cock-pit and sneered arrogantly at the purple mech.

"Do not presume to understand me or my methods Shockwave. You cannot be a true mech of science until you grasp, understand and live the concept of chaos theory… a feat I'm not sure your one-track processor could handle."

Apparently Shockwave had taken enough insults for now, and with a wordless glare (and even though he had no means of shuttering that single optic there was no doubt it was a glare) he turned and made his way calmly from the lab, offering his parting words as he turned his back, as if that made any sort of impression.

"I will be very interested to see how your use of chaos theory applies to this particular experiment. Assuming your subject does not best your scientific capabilities." the cold voice droned scathingly as he left, and Starscream scowled at his retreating form.

_Subject besting my__…_

Starscream whipped around to find Prowl had disconnected himself from the waste-fluid extractor and was stealthily lowering himself off the end of the bench, along which he'd trailed spent oil and energon from his open waste hatch.

Starscream cursed and threw his dirtiest glare at his two snickering Trine-mates in the corner.

He stomped over to Prowl, catching him up before he could dart away, his frown looking unfortunately similar to the sparkling's pout, which only made it harder for the other two seekers to hold back their chuckles. It became much easier when their commander ordered them to clean up the mess Prowl had trailed along the bench top.


	2. Chapter 2

_K so this one hasn't been updated like, EVER, but guess what it's NOT DEAD before it even begins... its just not a priority story (mostly because i dont write down story outlines and consequently have forgotten a lot of material i had set down for this one in my head and am starting a bit from scratch chapter wise ^^; )_

_But all the same, i daren't even call this a chapter. At under 3000 words, its more a drabble than anything for me, HOWEVER im thinking thats the style i'll be maintaining for this fic, simply because it might actually get somewhere that way, and thats more the way its always been structured in my head anyway. It's not a linear plot. It's a snapshot plot. Events that make up a whole picture. But again, i have to rediscover all those clever little ideas i had about why this situation was supposed to work so well .;_

_Nye, it'll come along, but again it comes in about 4th on my priority list after Cure, Repro and seeker!bee (S!B is almost finished though... its got like two chapters tops before i consider it done, its quite short)_

_SO ANYWAY enough rambling, i think you'll like this update, i did when i thought of it, and when writing it... honestly, sparkling prowl, carer screamer, how is it not fun? XD )_

_I'LL LET YOU GET ON WITH IT THEN. Also, ideas! If you have them, throw them at me, this story is open to situational suggestions :3 Its a concept, so it's all fluid and adjustabl-y and stuff._

_~Death Out  
_

* * *

Starscream returned from his ornly tactics meeting with Megatron and the other Decepticon officers, striding tiredly into his lab.

He hadn't gotten much recharge last shift, because Prowl had decided he wasn't going to stay offline for most of the off-cycle. He seemed to be having bad memory purges of the day his home was destroyed.

Starscream wondered if the sparkling knew on any level that his carer was one of the mechs who had caused the destruction.

He was so distracted by his train of thought that what he was seeing didn't register immediately.

The air commander paused in the middle of his lab, refreshed his optics a few times, then spun frantically on the spot, realising that…everything had been moved, changed around, re-ordered…

_What the frag?_

"SKYWARP!"

The black and purple seeker strolled into the room from the adjoining lounge that connected to all three of their quarters. "What?" he said blankly.

"Who the frag has been in here? Who did you allow to re-arrange all my equipment?" Starscream asked, voice dangerous as he glared at his wingmate.

The black jet merely stared at him non-plussed. "No one's been in here except me, TC and Prowl."

"So one of you did it?" Starscream pressed incredulously.

"Well it wasn't me or TC so it must have been Prowl. I mean he was in here for a while, he seemed happy and he wasn't touching anything at the time, just looking, so I left him alone." Skywarp shrugged.

Starscream pinched the bridge of his olfactory sensor and shuttered his optics. "You left a _sparkling alone _in a laboratory full of highly corrosive substances and delicate experimentation equipment, and you're trying to tell me he did this?" the air commander deadpanned, praying to Primus Skywarp unthickened his helm plating before answering.

Skywarp seemed to grasp the concept of his possible folly and rubbed the back of his neck cables nervously. "Well… he's a smart kid, I didn't think he'd hurt himself." he offered.

Starscream glared openly at his trine mate. "He is barely a vorn old, and anything under a deca-vorn is insatiably curious. Now where is he? Or did you leave the door unlocked _again_. I wouldn't put a stunt like this past Shockwave, it would be right up his alley as far as practical jokes go, the imbecile…"

Starscream grumbled, turning around and searching for his charge under and behind boxes and crates.

"Uuuuh… screamer… I found him…" came Skywarp's tentative voice after a few astroseconds.

The red and white seeker looked around and frowned when he saw the black and purple jet pointing up nervously.

Starscream turned his optics to the ceiling beams of the high roofed room, only to find a golden pair of bright optics looking right back. Prowl gave him a happy greeting chirp and Starscream pulled a face.

"What in the pit are you doing up there? And how in Primus' name… oh, I see-"

The lead seeker looked to where the sparkling's gaze had turned to a stack of tumbled crates against the wall. Apparently he'd been able to stack them in such a way as to use them to get to the support beam, but had seemingly knocked them down somehow upon reaching his destination.

Starscream sighed and ignited his heel thrusters, bringing himself level to the beam which Prowl was straddling proudly, surveying the room.

The jet reached out to pick the sparkling up, but Prowl seemed more interested in pointing something out to him.

Frowning slightly, Starscream looked at the benches that the black and white youngling was gesticulating towards.

"I didn't upgrade your lingual database for nothing you know. Are you trying to tell me you did this to my lab?"

The sparkling chirred and flicked his winglets proudly in affirmation.

The air commander picked up the small mech and lowered them both back onto solid ground before he finally, critically examined the work the little bot had apparently done.

After about 10 astroseconds, a pattern seemed to emerge to Starscream's processor.

The whole arrangement had been changed in such a way that the things he used most were concentrated in one area, the least used were stored under benches, and all his raw materials and minerals were more easily accessible, their order in relation to one another not actually changed, so that chemicals that could be dangerous to one another remained at a safe distance apart.

It was all very…

"Logical." Starscream muttered, a slightly surprised look on his faceplate.

"Logical!" Parroted a little voice, and Starscream looked down into the sparkling's beaming faceplate. It was the first word Prowl had ever actually spoken since Starscream had updated his speech programming an orn ago.

"Indeed." Starscream replied after a moment, turning to go to their lounge and procure himself some energon.

It seemed that the sparkling had taken that one word affirmation as praise, and he chirred contentedly in the crook of Starscream's arm as the jet opened the cooler and pulled out two cubes.

Once he'd settled in a comfortable lounge chair that allowed room for his wings, the air commander pulled a feeding tube out of sub-space and popped it into the cube of low grade he'd gotten out. Prowl, settling back on his lap against the gold cockpit, accepted the cube eagerly and popped the tube in his mouth, winglets swishing slowly as he sucked up the fuel.

Starscream drank his own regular grade in silence. It was a comfortable routine they had fallen into… he always kept a clean set of sparkling care paraphernalia in sub-space, and he always refuelled with Prowl. Thundercracker and Skywarp only fed him if Starscream was on shift for one of his refuel times, and apparently the sparkling would not sit with them in this manner if they did.

This was a good thing as far as the lead seeker was concerned. It meant Prowl was imprinting on him, and was less likely to emulate others if Starscream told him not to.

Of course, the downside was the air commander had to be careful not to do anything he didn't want Prowl to pick up on. It also meant the sparkling wouldn't be calmed by anyone else if distraught or roused from recharge. It was stressful, but Starscream found he didn't mind so much. He had, he reminded himself, brought this on himself after all. It was his choice, and he had accepted the responsibilities, so there was little point in complaining about it.

He mused quietly as Prowl shifted in his lap, still slowly drinking from his over half-full cube.

For the most part, he'd counted himself rather lucky. He didn't have a lot of experience with younglings, but Prowl seemed like a good sparkling on the whole. He was generally quiet, able to amuse himself, fairly easily pleased and if he had tantrums or emotional outbursts, they rarely lasted very long once they'd solved whatever issue was causing it.

But today's development… that was truly odd.

Logic was, in his mind, always strongly associated with his hated arch rival Shockwave. The mech was nothing _but _logical, to the point where he was just plain creepy. If Starscream hadn't felt the strength of the purple gun's ire and contempt, he would have believed him nothing but a sparkless super computer incapable of emotions of any kind.

But there was no way Prowl could have been influenced by the other scientist. He hadn't even had any more contact with Megatron, let alone anyone outside the trine, since his first day there about four orns ago.

And while the air commander knew he wasn't the messiest of mechs, he hadn't displayed any strong habits of organisation in is lab. However, Prowl had made a habit of just observing him as he worked. He seemed interested in how others went about performing tasks. He'd flick his winglets in intrigue if an action & reaction scenario played out, and click excitedly.

Perhaps this sudden involvement in Starscream's lab was a manifestation of Prowl's own personal qualities? Clearly the sparkling had watched him enough to get a handle on what his favourite tools and bench-spaces were, as well as his more commonly used materials. When he thought about that, it didn't seem like such a stretch for the youngling to decide to 'help' him by changing how things were arranged. Starscream had always just placement-filed his belongings, putting them where there was space, knowing where he kept things but not caring if they were kept in useful relation to one another.

That did require a little deeper thinking… and from a sparkling as young as Prowl, it was quite an achievement, despite the simplistic motives.

Finishing his cube, an idea came to the red and white seeker. He waited patiently for Prowl to finish his ration before he disposed of their energon containers and threw the used intake tube in the sterilising unit. He then took the content black and white mechlet over to the main console. Prowl sat happily in his lap again as Starscream quickly added some inane data to his sparkling 'log'.

Once that was done, the jet got Prowls attention as he pulled up a simple programme that the small bot had once or twice seen Thundercracker using.

"These are puzzles. Would you like to try solving some?" Starscream explained, lifting him to stand on his thighs so he could reach the console keys.

Prowl glanced back at him with curious gold optics before giving a small nod, looking back at the screen with slightly flapping winglets.

"Alright, in this first one, you have to move the red block to the red square, but to do it, you have to move around all the other different shaped boxes. Unless you plan the correct paths for the other boxes, you will not be able to get the red one where you want it." Starscream explained.

Prowl screwed up his faceplate in concentration, his attention fixed intently on the screen and puzzle before him.

After nearly a click, he reached out into the sensory field that generated in front of the screen to allow for orchestration style motions, which were interpreted as actions digitally.

His little tapered digits worked with slow, measured movements, arranging the shapes inside the contained area, shifting small squares and rectangles around each other, inching the red block closer to it's target. He paused again for another half a klik when he came to a slightly difficult bit, but it was clear to Starscream the youngling was engrossed. Most sparklings would get bored with the game before they even got this far. But soon, Prowl's fingers were moving much faster, and he waved his hand confidently through the sensory field, flicking boxes in a pattern he'd already worked out in his CPU, until finally the red box came to rest in it's designated area and the screen flashed his success at him.

"I did it!" Prowl exclaimed, almost sounding surprised with himself, and Starscream smirked indulgently at his charge's triumph. This was quite an interesting development… an insight into the mech Prowl would likely become, if Starscream nurtured the talent properly, and he certainly planed to.

"Would you like to try another one?"

"Yes!" the black and white mechlet squeaked excitedly.

"What's going on in here?" Skywarp asked curiously, striding in from the lounge where he'd been browsing a data pad of newscast video, depicting cities he had helped destroy. It gave him a sense of accomplishment every time he saw his handiwork.

"It seems Prowl likes to solve puzzles." Starscream said quietly, throwing his trine mate an amused smirk.

Skywarp frowned and gave a small moan. "Great, don't tell me he's gonna be a smart-aft insufferable show off like _you._"

Starscream threw him a dirty glare, wings flaring on either side of the chair back.

"Watch your glossa Skywarp! And might I point out, you are not one to talk about showing off."

"Ah cool it Screamer, I was only joking. Anyway, if he's gonna be raised by 'Cons, he's gotta learn how to swear sooner or later."

Starscream growled softly in frustration, "That is _not _your decision to make."

So engrossed in his game that he was oblivious to the seekers argument, Prowl suddenly piped up. "Look 'Warp, look! Watch what I can do!"

Stunned into silence by being addressed (and with his nick-name no less) by the sparkling for the first time, the black and purple seeker wandered over to stand behind Starscream's chair with an amused look on his faceplate.

Both jets watched in bemusement as the sparkling paused, then moved a few blocks swiftly, then paused, then executed the rest of the moves necessary to complete the second puzzle.

"More?" Prowl asked, turning hopeful, shinning gold optics on Starscream, who smiled and nodded, bringing up another, harder puzzle. It was bigger and block shapes got slightly more complex so they were harder to shift around each other.

"Wow. He is pretty good at that." Skywarp stated as he leant on the chair back and watched Prowl methodically work his way through the difficult maze of moves possible to him.

Starscream smirked indulgently to himself. "Indeed. This is a very interesting development. It seems some of his deeper personality traits are finally beginning to emerge. It looks like he has a very perceptive processor."

"You gonna put this in your log?" the black seeker asked nonchalantly as he crossed one pede over the other, still watching Prowl work with a slight smile at the little digits twiddling in the air through the movement field.

"I will elude to his further development, but not specify. No doubt Megatron will want to meddle in his prospects. This youngling has great intellectual potential, and if Megatron sees that as a threat he will likely try to manipulate Prowl's teachings and dumb him down. I will not allow that. It is not my intention to warp my sparkling against our leader anyway, so what that big grey oaf doesn't know won't hurt him."

Skywarp gave a non-committal sort of hum. "Kay. Better hope he doesn't hear you callin' him that though, cause if he slags ya, Prowl will probably get upset, and I ain't any good at dealing with a crying sparkling."

Starscream merely twitched his helm in the equivalent of an optic-roll.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Thundercracker's curious deep voice came across the lab as the doors whooshed open to admit him.

"Come watch this TC, Prowl's gonna blitz your score here!" Skywarp sniggered, making the blue seeker scowl in confusion and wander over to see what on Cybertron his trine mate was on about.

Prowl seemed too engrossed in his puzzle to notice Thundercracker's arrival, and the third jet's orbital ridges shot up when he realised the sparkling had almost solved a puzzle that had been stumping him for the past few orns.

"No slag… little pit-demon's actually doin that?" he grumbled, earning a disgruntled growl from their trine leader.

"He has just had his first language packet and learning upgrades, can you two _not_ make his first new lines of vocabulary consist solely of crude slang terms?"

Skywarp smirked but Thundercracker seemed to ignore Starscream's irate request.

"Seriously, did he get to that level on his own?"

The red and white seeker's ire seemed placated by Thundercracker's interest in Prowl's activities.

"Yes, he's begun to show a great aptitude for problem solving and lateral processing."

"So he's smart." Thundercracker replied bluntly.

Starscream huffed slightly through his vents. "Yes, Thundercracker, he's smart. Probably already more so than most of Megatron's army." the trine leader sneered indulgently as Prowl continued his puzzle solving, seemingly oblivious to their conversations and apparently loving every klik of his game.


	3. Chapter 3

_Well thank PRIMUS short chapters suit this story! Sorry it's such a tidbit fic, but it's a pick-me-up, and a good way to prove i'm not dead. Also a good way to excercise out my ever growing knowledge of babies XD Despite the fact my nephew is too young for me to use as a model for Sparkling!Prowl's actions, he'll get there. Those things grow fast y'know, babies XD_

_Anyway, this chapter was kicked off by a little kid on the train and his dad, teaching him station names as they went by. The other half is basically a TF rewrite of an actual event involving my dad, my brother when he was little, and my grandma._

_You must understand, that for Skywarp to not be able to accelerate around the transport shuttle quickly, it is HUGE. This isn't far enough into the war for things like big-fuck-off ships from the golden age to all have been scrapped for parts. Anywho, hope you enjoy, despite it being such a short chapter ^.^_

_And don't worry, Repro is nearly ready for it's next update post, and the next Cure chap is going to be FUCKING MASSIVE, and i am now finished with my uni course... for good. So expect all this relatively soon ^.^_

_~Death Out.  
_

* * *

The sparkling pointed at a glass container and wiggled his stumpy sensor panels curiously.

"Flask." Starscream said blankly, attention mostly on his calculations.

"Flashk." Came the small, slow reply.

Starscream shook his head and repeated the word a little slower, not even glancing at the mechlet.

Prowl considered, scrunching up his faceplate for a moment, panels twitching up before he bodily relaxed and said, very carefully, "Fl-ask."

He perked up happily when the seeker's wings twitched in an affirmative.

Emboldened by his success, he looked around the bench top with avid optics until his sights rested on his new vocabulary conquest.

He pointed to the small, unassuming implement, and still not really looking at him, Starscream answered evenly.

"Petri Dish."

This seemed to have the little bot stumped. The red and white seeker waited patiently, letting the sparkling's developing processor mull it over.

"Petwidis."

A giggle behind him had Starscream throw a glare over his shoulder at Skywarp, who was playing on the computer terminal, trying to beat Prowl's recent high score on the puzzle block game.

He had barely gone halfway there, but the black wing mate had stopped concentrating on his game in favour of hearing his trine leader teach a sparkling new words.

"If you're going to sit there and snicker distractingly Skywarp-"

"Sorry S, sorry, I'll be quiet."

The grin in his tone was evident, and after a soft derisive noise, Starscream returned to his formula calculations.

"Pe-tri di-sh" the air commander said slowly.

Prowl's sensor wings wiggled as he mulled it over.

"Pee-tree dissssh."

"Close enough for now."

Prowl didn't seem content with that answer, giving him a pleading look.

Starscream resisted the pull at the corner of his mouth.

One thing that had become very evident in the sparklings personality since his talent for strategy and puzzle games was uncovered was that he didn't like leaving things half done.

The trine leader had had his work cut out for him explaining that it was possible to leave something and finish it later, or not perfect something in one go, but Prowl it seemed, wouldn't have any of that.

Once he started to learn something, he didn't like to stop until he'd mastered it.

With a sigh, Starscream re-iterated once more.

"Peh-tree Dii-sh"

At first, Prowl grimaced, gaze unfocused as he tried to make sense of the sounds in his processor.

With a perk of his sensor winglets, the sparkling's optics lit up with sudden clarity.

"Petri dish!" he exclaimed, before chirruping triumphantly.

Skywarp snorted out another giggle as Starscream gave Prowl a 'good work' nod.

The trine leader didn't dignify Skywarp with so much as a glance.

"He's picked it up quicker than you did." He scathed curtly.

That seemed to temper the black jet's mirth a little again.

"Yea, but I'm not a nerd, so I don't care."

Starscream merely moved his helm as if rolling his optics.

"With your level of ignorance Skywarp, everyone is a nerd compared to you."

"Hey!" the other seeker scowled as his trine leader smirked.

"Nerrrrrd."

The two seekers looked around at Prowl as he loudly sounded out the word with a questioning look on his faceplates.

He remained totally confused as Skywarp cackled and Starscream shook his helm.

The white and red jet pointed at his trine mate and said clearly, "Idiot."

"…Idiit."

"Hey! That's no fair! You said we weren't allowed to teach him insults yet!" Skywarp squawked indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest plates.

Starscream smirked. "It's not an insult, it's just a fact. Prowl, I-dee-ot." He pointed at the bristling black mech again, smirk widening.

Prowl smiled, seemingly highly entertained, and fluttered his winglets. "Idiot!"

Skywarp, huffing and fluttering his wings in agitation, jabbed a finger towards the air commander and said, "Prowl, NERD."

"Nerrrrrd!" the sparkling chirred out at Starscream, little winglets flapping as he bounced where he sat.

"Nerd, idiot, nerd, idiot, nerd-"

"Skywarp, I am going to short your circuits so hard you'll wish you weren't spa-"

"Hey, what's going on in here?"

Thundercracker rumbled as he strolled into the lab, finally off his long and droll comms shift.

Prowl chirped and bounced again, pointing between the momentarily speechless Starscream and Skywarp and loudly proclaiming "Nerd! Idiot! Nerd! Idiot!"

There was an odd moment of stillness and dumbstruck looks between the three before Thundercracker burst out laughing.

His booming chuckles got Prowl giggling, and both Starscream and Skywarp crossed their arms and scowled, sharing a look.

"Hey Prowl. Sof-tie" Skywarp said with a sly smirk, pointing at the blue seeker, who immediately chocked on his laughter.

"What did you just say?"

Prowl looked at the big blue mech and beamed, pointing at him suddenly in imitation of the black jet.

"Soff-teeee!"

"Take that back!" Thundercracker crowed, scowling.

Skywarp cackled and Starscream smirked in satisfaction.

"Well, if we have to carry nicknames, so do you TC." the black seeker said cheerily.

Thundercracker's wings drooped and he groaned, a servo smacking over his faceplate as Prowl began a new litany of 'idiot, nerd, softie'.

* * *

Skywarp flew over the sky-scape of Kaon, heading for Vox and Starscream's temporary lab. They were having a minor base shift in order to train some new aerial teams, and the Air Commander had had to leave earlier in the joor in order to supervise the setting up of training facilities.

Thundercracker had gone with him to help organise things, which left Skywarp to bring along Prowl once his morning care routine was through with. That alone had taken a while, but the black seeker counted himself lucky. The mechlet was in a good mood today, despite waking up to find Starscream was gone.

It had helped that Skywarp had learnt how to appease Prowl from the get go. Dangling a bottle of warm pre-processed energon in front of the little bot's faceplate the moment he onlined was now a tried and true method, and one he refused to share with Thundercracker, simply because he liked to watch him flounder with an upset sparkling.

"Hey Scraplet, how ya doin?"

Prowl chirruped and trilled, and the seeker could feel the little winglets tapping against the seat of his cockpit as he flew.

He smiled internally. Really, he liked sparklings, and was starting to think he knew why Starscream had kept this one.

You could teach them a lot. It was really kinda cool, knowing you were having an impact on a mech… an impact that would last with them forever.

Not that he, Skywarp, didn't leave an impact on mechs all the time. He smirked internally… Oh yes, he had an impact alright, he often made several impacts on his enemies. Impacts that required medics to pound the dents out later, assuming the bot survived.

Lost in his musings, and not worried about the placid, happy sparkling looking curiously out of his cockpit windows, Skywarp didn't pay much attention to the slowing of Aerial traffic around him, until his anti-gravs had to kick in to keep him hovering.

"Oh… what the… what is this?"

He had had to come to a complete stop behind a small line of cargo fliers. They in turn were stuck behind a massive shuttle.

"Stupid Neutrals… can't you use the lower lanes like the rest of the freighter fliers?"

Ordinarily, Skywarp would simply have warped his way around the traffic. But with Prowl in his cockpit, he daren't even do any fancy flying to get around them. They had discovered the first time they'd taken him out like this that he really didn't like crazy flying yet. It was a sharp reminder that he was certainly no seekerlet.

There was a LOT of aerial traffic heading into and out of Vos. It was being cleared of most of it's residents as the Decepticon army took it over and turned it into a base of operations.

So, to be safe, and keep Prowl from freaking out, Skywarp had no choice but to stay within his lane, following the painfully slow cargo fliers.

Several times, he tried to pass them, but the bursts of speed made Prowl whimper, and with a huff, he'd pull back and seethe.

He was a SEEKER for slag's sake! He was in a high ranking trine, didn't these stupid idiots know how to move over for a jet of importance?

Couldn't they at least be turning off into a different sky-lane?

Please, oh, PLEASE let them be changing direction soon…

When the massive shuttle ahead started banking as if to move off to a different flight-path, Skywarp cheered internally.

The other cargo fliers ahead of him seemed to do that same thing, vibrating and readying their engines to take off at a more reasonable speed.

But when the shuttle suddenly banked back into their path… having merely swerved to avoid two other cargo fliers hovering and arguing over an apparent aerial crash or misdemeanour, Skywarp lost his cool.

"SLAG IT ALL WHY DO I HAVE TO GET STUCK BEHIND THIS PIT FRAGGING SHUTTLE!"

About five astroseconds after he'd said it, he remembered he had an impressionable sparkling in his

cockpit.

"Oh slag… I mean fra- agh! Damnit!"

He fumbled, fixing his internal sensors on the mechlet.

Prowl appeared not to have heard anything, or to have even have heard his outburst.

_Okay __'__Warp, OK, calm down__…__ He doesn__'__t get words first go, maybe Screamer won__'__t know and WON__'__T offline me__…_

His bout of apprehension slowly fading, he continued to putter along behind the traffic until, mercifully, the massive mech carrier began descending and the rest of the lane not fast enough to pass it safely happily surged forward and onto their destinations.

Skywarp had completely forgotten his slip by the time he reached the training centre at Vos.

He landed lightly, opening his cockpit for Prowl to get out before he changed and walked across the hangar with Prowl in tow.

The sparkling stayed ahead of his guardian and looked around in wonder, winglets fluttering until they saw other bots, at which point they dropped flat and he stayed as close to Skywarp as possible without getting kicked.

Most of the bots they passed didn't even see the mechlet, but those who did stared. Skywarp sneered and gave them his 'ask me and I'll slag you' look. Thankfully, his reputation proceeded him, so there were no challengers.

When they finally reached the main hangar where Starscream was waiting for all the new recruits to arrive, Prowl had optics only for the air commander.

"STARSCREEEEEAM!"

Most of the milling jets were startled or confused by the high pitched squeal, and few noticed the sparkling as he ran through their legs, Skywarp's lunge for the little mech completely futile.

For his part, Starscream only looked very mildly surprised.

He stood with his arms crossed over his chest plate, wings hitched up high and proud, tensing as he saw Prowl running towards him. The mechlet fairly pounced his leg, clinging to his plating and whirring happily while his little sensor panels flapped madly.

After shooting Skywarp a glare that could melt metal, recruits in the hanger now looking at him in alarm or snickering, he leant down to pry the sparkling off his leg and pick him up in a rather detached manner.

"Guess what Star guess what guess what!" The mechlet trilled in an almost singsong manner as Starscream cocked an orbital ridge at him in indulgent curiosity.

Prowl, seeing he had his caretakers undivided attention, drew in a deep ventilation and said, loudly and proudly, "We got stuck behind a PIT FRAGGING SHUTTLE!"

Starscream's optics flared bright crimson as a dumbstruck look crossed his features.

Skywarp, who had been striding over and trying not to laugh, now stopped dead in his tracks, wings hiking up in alarm.

Half the recruits in the hall chuckled or snorted.

Thundercracker, who had been organising the role call, came over and cocked an orbital ridge at Prowl himself, barely suppressing a smirk.

Starscream's wings quivered, and he quickly passed the mechlet over to the blue seeker before turning another armour melting glare on Skywarp's retreating back plates.

"Skywarp!"

The black jet flinched and turned slowly on the spot.

Mechs around the hanger still snickered as if it was one big joke. Those who had experience of the air commanders temper however, pretended not to listen and turned their audio receptors down.

"Yyyeah?" Skywarp said timidly, not quite looking his trine mate in the optic.

"Just WHERE did he learn THAT particular phrase?"

The black seeker reached a servo behind his helm and rubbed the plating in a nervous gesture.

"Uh, I dunno Scre-er Starscream… maybe he uh… picked it up from… TC?"

Prowl, bouncing in Thundercrackers servos as the blue mech grumbled faintly, pointed at Skywarp and chirped loudly and happily "SLAG!"

The mechlet then began to repeat the word in a jaunty sing-song voice.

At which point Starscream exploded at Skywarp.

Thundercracker was the only bot laughing during the chewing out the air commander gave their third, who to his credit, stood there and took it with some humility.

The rest of the recruits either pretended they weren't listening (which was, to be frank, impossible, given half the base could probably hear the white jet's screeching vocals), or stood shell-shocked, unable to take their optics off the air commander.

When Thundercracker had his amusement under control, he took Prowl away, covering the little mechlet's mouth nonchalantly to cease the repetition of his newly acquired curse word.

Prowl chirred and gave him an indignant look, to which Thundercracker merely shook his helm with a half grin.

"Bad words Prowl. Don't say that anymore, OK? Starscream doesn't like it when you use them."

Prowl's little winglets drooped and he looked suddenly gutted.

He was used to Starscream's angry outbursts at TC and Warp, but he didn't know that HE was the reason Starscream was angry… he thought his caretaker would be proud of him for learning new words so fast on his own.

"Star angry with me?" he said quietly, amber optics full of tentative concern.

The blue seeker looked down at him calmly with a soft rumble.

"No, he's mad at Skywarp for telling you those words. They're bad words, slag, and frag. Don't use them until you're older, alright?"

The mechlet nodded vigorously. He didn't like upsetting Starscream. He liked it when Starscream was proud of him. He was a good bot.

"Hungry kid? It's about time for your second quarter-cube today."

The mention of energon wiped Prowl's anxiety immediately, and as they entered the lead trine's temporary quarters, the doors closing behind them finally cut off Starscream's continuing tirade.


	4. Chapter 4

_HI. It's been forever. This update is short and I'm falling asleep. But I read it through and decided it was as ready to post as it was ever going to be, so Merry New Happy Christmas Year's Eve or some shit._

_And for the record, I ripped a Muse song and made it into a Cybertronian one, woopedooooooo. It's 'soldier's poem'. Herpaderp. Seemed to fit at the time._

_Also I've been neglecting this fic waiting for my nephew to be old enough to inspire it. Since he's half forming sentences, he's kind of there, and he's 2 next month. The older he gets, hopefully the more material i'll have to inspire this. yey._

_For now, read on at your leisure._

* * *

Prowl was inconsolably upset.

He didn't cry, and he didn't fuss. He just shut down.

And that was what worried Skywarp and Thundercracker into fretting the most.

Not that they would ever admit to do anything like fretting over a Sparkling that was behaving itself relatively well.

But Prowl would not take energon, and he would not respond to their attempts to get him to either recharge, play one of his favourite puzzles, or even just go for a walk.

They knew there was only one thing the sparkling wanted, and he would not be consoled until he got it.

Unfortunately though, Starscream was in the intensive care section of the medbay in full stasis.

A training accident had seen two full trine's laser fire pointed at a section of the sky through which he was taking another unit on manuoevres.

Only he and one other Seeker had survived the accident, and both were in a critical condition.

Given Starscream was the current base commander, Thundercracker and Skywarp were next in charge, and had to chew out the cadets who had done the firing.

Skywarp had secretly enjoyed his blue wingmate's rare show of rage and use of harmonics to threaten and intimidate. It was certain no flier on base henceforth would question the lead trine's status, that was for sure.

But that still left them with the problem of Prowl.

The mechling had seen Starscream on the stretcher, covered in energon and full of holes.

While the Air commander's wing mates had seen him in worse condition, Prowl had been horrified to see his guardian/carer like that, and hadn't uncurled from a shaking whimpering ball for several cycles.

Once he finally did start responding to stimulus, he had refused anything offered or suggested and merely made it clear he just wanted to be with Starscream.

Thundercracker rubbed between his optics, hoping to ease the ache in his processor as he carried the black and white bundle of quivering metal down the halls to the Medbay.

He didn't even need to glare at any bots he passed. After his display of anger in the main hanger at the recruits who had messed up, no one so much as looked at him the wrong way.

He had to admit, he LIKED having that kind of effect on bots. Unfortunately, it also meant jets went a bit stupid around him from fear. But fear him they should.

It wasn't until he yelled and let his sonics loose that others remembered he could shatter their circuits with a single blow and not even have to touch them.

It WAS curious that Prowl had not shied from him after his display, having witnessed it fully from Skywarps arms.

In fact, the mechling burrowed into the apparent safety of Thundercracker's chest plates all the way there.

The medics protested faintly at his demand to enter the private ward where Starscream was, but a glare soon got him inside, and he did make an effort to remain out of the way as they went about fixing his trine leader.

Energon lines and power cables snaked out from several open ports on the red and white Seeker's plating. He was offline, spark monitor showing a regular, if slow, spark pulse.

Prowl emerged from Thundercracker's arm to stare in wide optic'd alarm at the body of his carer.

The blue seeker stood by Starscream's less damaged side, unmoving and not particularly disturbed by the sight (except for the tiniest wince at the amount of holes in his leader's wings). He only lowered Prowl when he squirmed in indication he wanted to be closer.

He placed the mechling by Starscream's side, the small black and white clutching red chest plates gingerly.

He stared into Starscream's faceplate for a long few moments, digits slowly and gently mapping the armour beneath them, flinchingly tracing a laser puncture wound of the outer armour.

Prowl slid down and curled up in the space between Starscream's arm and chest plate, and Thundercracker, as hardened a warrior and unsentimental a mech as he tried to often kid himself that he was, didn't have the spark to move the mechling.

He did not even take him away when he fell into recharge beside the offline wing leader.

With a resigned frown and an ex-vented sigh, he gave instructions to the nearest medic to feed and look after the sparkling (On pain of death. Either by him or Starscream once the air commander was in a fit state). They were to inform he or Skywarp the moment Starscream or Prowl was awake or wanted them.

What bothered Thundercracker the most, as he left the ward and headed back for his trine's quarters, was how much he _cared _about the sparkling's wellbeing.

He liked Prowl happy.

He liked to see those ridiculously tiny winglets wiggling, those too-big gold optics looking around in quiet curiosity, the little chirring sounds he made as he discovered new things about his surroundings.

He was… a companionable little thing, despite the mischief he got into more and more often as he found ways to sneak around them.

It was like a game to the sparkling, to outwit his carers. But that was all he ever did. He never ran off, he just got out of sight, out of a room, out of their sensor range. And then he'd wait for them and reveal himself in the most innocuous way possible, as if he'd never gone missing and it was all just in their minds, and he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

But if the mechling had a tank upset, or was disturbed by one of their arguments, or was reprimanded more harshly than was strictly necessary, the winglets drooped, the optics paled, and he balled up quietly somewhere.

Thundercracker didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but the sparkling seemed to take punishments much more seriously than a mech of his age ordinarily would.

Certainly, if he were an actual seekerling, it would be expected that he'd keep doing the same thing he was told not to any chance he got simply BECAUSE he was told not to.

Prowl, however, was a thinker.

And about the only time the mechling disturbed the blue Seeker, was when he sat doing nothing BUT thinking.

At which point, the blue flier would subtly prompt Skywarp into distracting him.

Despite Starscream's revelation that he had personal motivations first and foremost for the sparkling's adoption, they were still raising him among Decepticon ranks.

And Thundercracker knew full well that thinking too much when you weren't the boss was a dangerous thing.

* * *

Prowl was falling. Falling through the air, still in his pod, and he didn't know why. Falling, falling, and then he saw them.

Three shapes, streaking across the sky, lit by the light of fire below against a dark sky.

He wanted to BE them. He didn't want to fall. Where were they going? Where was his carrier? His Sparker? Maybe they forgot he was there. They often forgot.

Where were Lightstep and Quickwit? Were they falling with him?

He wanted to be with those flying bots.

Then his pod hit the ground.

Prowl jerked out of recharge with a small sound of surprise.

He was not in his pod. But then his memory cores rebooted and his current state returned to his meta.

He gave another small jerk as something rubbed his back-plates.

Uncurling, he clutched the side of a familiar red chassis.

"What are you doing here, Prowl?"

The voice was quiet and calm, and Starscream didn't sound any different than he usually did after rousing from a good recharge cycle.

But Prowl's meta told him something was very not right with his carer, and he moved around to look into the red optics, trying to detect another lie like the voice.

He could still see holes all over the big red and white bot's frame, and it irked him that they seemed not to effect Starscream at all.

"And what is that look for?"

The seeker, who's helm was only slightly raised, had a mildly amused look on his faceplates.

Prowl frowned.

"You got hurt. I was scared."

Starscream tilted his head at the mechling, brushing his digits over the small backplates, watching the stress tensed winglets relax bit by bit.

"Was that all? You really needn't worry so much Prowl. I'm much harder to offline than any common seeker or groundling. It is part of the reason I am Megatron's second in command."

Prowl looked chastised, despite the fact his carer had not spoken in anything but a calm, mater-of-fact tone.

"There was lots of energon." He said in a very meek voice, winglets drooping.

Starscream considered the sparkling for a moment before sighing softly through his vents.

"Prowl, you aren't in trouble for being worried about me. But there are some important things you need to know. We are at war, and I am going to be injured regularly. I am a Decepticon, which means I am strong, even when I am weak. Pain is not the worst this world has to offer. I may act the coward at times, but it is not from real fear. I pretend, because it isn't about what others think of you, it is about survival. Do you understand?"

The small black and white's wings quivered and his optics dimmed as he processed hard, trying to make sense of it all.

Light blue digits stroked his back and Starscream gave a quiet, slightly raspy laugh. "Do not worry, scraplet. You will understand eventually. For now, I must tell you that it is important that even if you are afraid of something, you must try not to let others know. Decepticons are a great race because they know how to exploit weakness. If Decepticons see weakness in you, they will use it to hurt you. So you just don't let them see it. You are allowed to be afraid for me, and show your fear to me. But try not to show others as you get older. You understand?"

Prowl nodded, honestly grasping the simpler aspects of the concept.

It was pretending. Like when he appeared out of hiding and pretended he was never hiding.

What he did not say was how he didn't understand the point of hurting someone for being worried.

Why did Decepticons do that? Why did it make them better?

Deciding it was something his processors needed upgrades to understand, he curled back into Starscream's side and let the soothing digits calm his processor.

"Now, how DID you get in here little spark? Did you find a way in by yourself?" Starscream asked quietly, clearly curious.

Prowl's little sensors panels flicked once. "TeeCee brought me."

"Did he now? …Hmmm, did you happen to hear what he said to the squad who shot me out of the sky?"

Prowl was once again confused. Starscream sounded almost happy, amused again.

More and more he learnt to just accept Starscream's odd emotional responses to things rather than let them confuse him.

"He yelled and made loud booms. Everyone is scared of him now. 'Warp thinks it's funny."

The red and white seeker chuckled softly again.

"Good. About time he let off some steam and reminded those winglets who he is." The air commander suddenly gave his charge a curious, calculating glare.

"You DID let Thundercracker or Skywarp feed you, didn't you?"

It was as much the subtle warning of a reprimand as it was a question, and the droop of the sparklings sensory appendages answered before Prowl had even said anything, negating the need to.

Starscream sighed and let his helm rest back against the berth. His other servo however, despite being hooked up with several medical lines in various ports and joints, managed to slip into his sub-space and draw out a cube of low grade and a feeding tube.

He handed them to Prowl, who poked the feeding line into the cube himself with an air of apology.

Starscream gave him a slightly stern look, but it was tinged with a sort of exasperated satisfaction. Yet another one of his carer's mixed expressions that Prowl chose to merely accept for now rather than attempt to understand.

"You really must learn to accept energon from them when I am not around or available Prowl. While I approve that you prefer to refuel with me, it will not do well for you to disrupt your systems, and you will get an upset tank."

Prowl nodded, winglets flickering up slightly once he realised he wasn't really in trouble. He settled comfortably into the red and white seeker's side and sucked slowly on his low-grade, feeling his whole systems relax with the assurance of Starscream's wellbeing and the introduction of fresh fuel.

Starscream watched him for a little while, stroking his sparkling's backplates now and then, pleased with his progress.

Thank Primus he'd managed to come across such an intelligent bitlet.

* * *

"Don't want toooo!"

Prowl squirmed and Thundercracker sighed heavily. Keeping the sparkling pinned easily against the bench top with one servo while his other, rather more expertly than he liked, opened Prowl's waste hatch and attached the extraction tube.

The waste filter immediately began emptying the mechlet's waste tank, and the black and white little sensor panels flared and twitched in aggitation.

Prowl let out a few quiet noises of discontent, and Thundercracker couldn't help but pet the tiny backplates softly in apology.

"You can't run around with a full waste tank, your systems will seize up Prowl."

The sparklings response was to kick the bench top against which he was still pinned in a feeble protest.

"I know, I know. Give it a vorn and you won't need it anymore."

He really did sympathise. He didn't remember a whole lot from his youngling vorns, but he knew he had absolutely loathed having to endure things like waste tank drainage and turbine clean outs.

Once old enough to handle such maintenance himself, they had become meaningless routine tasks of hygiene. But to a sparkling, they were tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment when no crime had been committed.

Having learnt from observation both Starscream and Skywarps tricks to getting Prowl in a complacent mood, Thundercracker had managed to develop a few of his own.

Low enough so that anyone outside the room couldn't hear, the blue seeker began to hum a soft tune. It was a vossian triumph march… he'd always found the idea of vossians marching when they were fliers rather stupid, but he liked the song anyway… and it seemed Prowl did too, because he would stop kicking and flare his panels wide, relaxing.

Thundercracker's tone was deep and smooth, rough around the edges, but it leant itself to the march, and eventually he didn't have to pin Prowl anymore, because it always seemed to lull him into a stupor of some kind.  
He gently petted the tiny back-plates, detaching the waste extractor when it was done and closing the hatch on the outlet.  
The mechlet lay there quietly and waved his winglets back and forth.

"Better now hmm?"  
"What's that?" the sparkling chirped as he picked him up, big golden optics looking at him curiously.  
"What?" Thundercracker gave Prowl a confused look.  
"The thing. What you just did?" Prowl replied, cocking his helm to the side as he leant forward against the amber cockpit.  
"Hmm? With the waste- OH, you mean the music? Singing?"  
"Moo-seek?"

Thundercracker chuckled, patting the little mechlet's back.  
"Mu-sic. Music is a series of sounds that go together. A series of sounds that go together is a song. When you make the song, you are sing-ing." He explained slowly, moving into the common area away from the lab space.

"Singggginggg. Singing? I like you singing! I like muuusic!"  
Prowl mirred happily, pressing himself against the seekers chassis and the thrum of the spark beneath that he could feel. They all felt different, but he liked it. Thundercracker's hum was the deepest.

"Well… I guess I could sing you another one… but don't tell the others I do this, or I'll never hear the end of it, OK?"  
Prowl nodded vigorously, eagerly accepting the cube Thundercracker had poured him of his usual low-grade.  
The blue mech sat in his usual chair, settling Prowl on his lap and letting the sparkling get comfortable before he tried to think of a suitable piece to hum.  
With a wry smile, he recited the soldiers poem.  
Not like the kid would remember the words, let alone know what they were.

* * *

"… And do yoooou, think you deserve your freeedooom, noooo, I don't think that you doooo-"  
"Prowl, what are you doing?"

The mechlet looked up at his carer proudly. "I'm singing!"  
Starscream tilted his helm with a calculating, slightly amused look.  
"Oh? And who taught you that one?"

"T- Um, I don't know." He said with a blank expression, optics just a little too wide.  
Starscream smirked. "Oh really? Clever thing you are to learn that. You're quite good at it." He praised indulgently, hoping to encourage the mechling to sing more of what he'd learnt so he could confirm his supicions.

Really though, it was silly of Thundercracker to expect a bitlet to keep his secrets when Prowl probably couldn't even pronounce that word properly yet.  
The question was, did his trine mate sing when he thought no-one of consequence was listening, or did he teach Prowl deliberately.  
The fact he hid it was the most interesting part.  
Starscream had expected to learn some interesting things about Sparklings from raising one. He certainly hadn't expected it to teach him things about other mechs.


End file.
